Shafer Heating & Cooling is a growing HVAC company serving homeowners across Ohio with HVAC installation and repair. After crossing the $1 million mark and expanding to $6.5 million in revenue, the business faced new financial complexity. The team needed a structured system to divide cash intentionally and improve day-to-day visibility. Relay became that critical infrastructure.
“Now we have true clarity on what the numbers are, from a daily to a weekly to a monthly standpoint.”
— Nathan Schafer, Owner, Shafer Heating & Cooling
Business outcomes
Increased profit 130% after implementing structured cash flow
Increased revenue 60% while keeping operating expenses flat
Automated nightly allocations with daily financial visibility
Before Relay: The cash flow challenges of scaling beyond $1 million
Shafer Heating & Cooling grew quickly. In just a few years, the company expanded from a $1 million operation to approximately $6.5 million in revenue and even doubled the business in 2020.
Despite the revenue growth, financial pressure remained.
“We all think we get to a million dollars… that’s going to be so much easier. We got to the $1 million mark, and things didn’t get easier,” Nathan says.
Hitting seven figures introduced new operational complexity. Financial clarity hadn’t caught up, and without a structured system, cash flow still felt reactive.
The Solution: Implementing Profit First and multiple accounts with Relay
The turning point came when the team realized they needed structure, not just higher revenue.
“We were sick and tired of being sick and tired,” says Nathan.
So, Shafer Heating & Cooling implemented the Profit First framework and used Relay to operationalize it through multiple accounts1 and automation.
Revenue was divided intentionally across multiple accounts rather than held in a single checking balance. Each dollar had a job: operating expenses, owner pay, taxes, profit. Relay made that structure consistent.
“It’s all automated, and the next morning when I wake up, I can look at my bank accounts on my phone in the app very simply, and know exactly what’s where,” Nathan says.
That automation removed the monthly guesswork. Allocations weren’t based on memory or instinct. They happened daily. With that structure in place, visibility improved immediately.
“Now we have true clarity on what the numbers are, from a daily to a weekly to a monthly standpoint,” he adds.
Instead of reviewing numbers sporadically, Shafer Heating & Cooling began tracking performance consistently. That shift changed how decisions were made.
Nathan also highlights an important lesson many growing businesses overlook: “Margins can lie to you. Make sure you’re looking past just the percentages and at the gross profit dollars coming in per day, because the dollars are what pay your bills, not the margins.”
Focusing on real dollars, allocated properly, created discipline inside the business.
The Impact: Stronger profitability through structured cash management
Once Shafer Heating & Cooling had structure and visibility in place, growth became more controlled.
“We were able to increase our profits last year by 130% all while only increasing our revenue by about 60% from the year before, and while still keeping our operating expenses the exact same,” Nathan says.
Those results reflected disciplined financial structure. Profit was allocated first rather than left as whatever remained at the end of the month.
The change was visible in the numbers and in day-to-day operations. Owner pay became consistent, allocations happened automatically, and financial review became routine instead of reactive.
“Since adopting Relay, I’ve always gotten a paycheck,” says Nathan.
For a growing trades business, predictable owner pay signals stability.
Relay: Turning revenue growth into predictable profit
Shafer Heating & Cooling already had strong revenue growth. With Relay, that revenue became supported by structured cash management.
After implementing Profit First and automating multiple accounts, financial visibility improved. Allocations became consistent, and decisions were based on real numbers reviewed daily.
Relay provided the infrastructure to divide cash intentionally, monitor performance regularly, and protect profit as the business expanded.
For home services companies moving beyond the $1 million mark, that kind of financial structure creates steadiness alongside growth.
